It looks like American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr could be forced to eat some humble pie if the pay-per-view (PPV) figures cited by Dan Rafael of ESPN are correct. Rafael said that contrary to Money May's expectation that the PPV buys would exceed 1 million, his sources estimated the more accurate figure would be between 800,000 and 900,000.

If such were the case, Mayweather would also need to adjust his previous estimate that he would have earned a total of $70 million from his May 3 bout against Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana. Of that amount, $32 million is the guaranteed purse, while the remaining $38 million is Mayweather's forecast of PPV revenues based on buys of more than one million.

But a lower figure would not mean that Money May - who last week just splurged more than $500,000 on jewellery and watches in New York City - will become poorer.

The hit would be bigger on his ego as the PPV figures, if accurate, would indicate less boxing fan interest on his bout. Or could it be because fans would rather see him in the ring against eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao whom he just recently mocked after data showed that the April 12 rematch between Pacman and American boxer Timothy Bradley generated only between 750,000 and 800,000 PPV buys?

The official PPV figures are to be provided by Showtime, which has not provided the data yet.

To hit at least 1 million PPV buys, Golden Boy Promotions made the bout of Adrien Broner and Amir Khan the undercard fights versus Carlos Molina and Luis Collazo, respectively.

Commenting on why he believes the May 3 bout got less than 1 million hits, Rafael explained on Friday, "When a fight goes through the roof the cable systems are more anxious to report the numbers ... When a fight doesn't go crazy they take their time."

He noted that PPV numbers for the Mayweather-Canelo bout took only 4 days, while the Mayweather-Maidana fight has passed two weeks and the figures are still officially unknown.

He added that while the estimated 800,000 to 900,000 buys are not bad, it pales in comparison to the 2.2 million PPV buys when Mayweather fought Sanl "Canelo" Alvarez in September 2013.

Boxingnews24 warned that a Mayweather-Maidana rematch, tentatively set for September, would likely even bring lower PPV numbers, which are indicators that Money May should fight bigger names such as Miguel Cotto, Sergio Martinez or Canelo to boost future PPV buys.

Badlefthook questions if the Dream Match between Money May and Pacman would also generate large hits since the last two Pacquiao PPV buys were also disappointing in comparison to previous fights.